What does 'honoraires ttc en sus' mean in relation to renting a property in France?

What's a CROUS property?

They're government owned halls or blocks of apartments which serve all the students in a city (so the various Universités I, II etc., INSA, any Grandes Ecoles) and are specifically for students. If you get the right one they're a good way to meet people too (though nothing like as sociable as English halls).

This is the Strasbourg/Alsace one for example (http://crous-strasbourg.fr/culture/) but if you just google CROUS and the city you're going to study in it should bring up the equivalent.

Being in CROUS also avoids things like the hefty deposit without a French guarantor mentioned earlier and makes it easier for getting things like CAF (government funding for approx. one third of your rent) and attestations des residences (needed to set up pretty much anything in France it seems).

That's definitely something to think about, thank you. I did want to go into a private flat only because I had a bad experience in England in halls during my freshers' year with noise and people being generally too sociable! But it sounds as though students are a bit quieter in France, so it could be a good idea for me.

I haven't heard of government funding. Could you tell me about that?

Yeah, there wasn't much noise where I was, certainly compared to my Fresher halls.

CAF stands for something Allocation Familiale but virtually all students get it in spite of the name. You fill in a shedload of forms (as per in France) and the French government then pays a proportion of your rent. This varies slightly from person to person for unclear reasons (we all declared 0 income) but seemed to be around 1/3 of your rent on average.

Try and get it done as soon as you get there. the CAF people set up a stall on the campus for the first few weeks when I was there and you just went along with your details, passport, a photo and an attestation then they helped you through it all and sent it off for you. If they don't do this where you go there'll be a CAF office in the town centre where you can go and sort it all out. It's a bit of a faff but it's the definitely one of the most worthwhile bits of bureaucracy you'll do over there.

That's great news. My year abroad is getting financially more manageable by the minute! Thank you.

Don't worry about finance for your year abroad. Between ERASMUS grant (circa. 3k last year), a slightly higher loan and CAF you'll be fine.

If you're from a household with below a certain income you get an extra 500 or so quid at some point too.

Which fac are you going to?

That's all good news.

The university in France is Lyon II. I'm still deciding between Lyon and Madrid, but France is becoming increasingly tempting.